INFRARED SPECTROSCOPIC DETECTION OF CO FORMED AT STEP AND TERRACE SITES ON A CORRUGATED ELECTRODE SURFACE PLANE DURING METHANOL OXIDATION

A platinum single crystal electrode with ordered step and terrace stru ctures was used to probe site-dependent aspects of methanol surface ch emistry. Infrared spectral features of the adsorbed CO reaction interm ediate were measured in parallel experiments with Pt(335) (Pt(s)-[4(11 1) x (100)]) and Pt(111) electrodes. Experiments confirm that methanol ic CO formation is inhibited at Pt(111) at potentials in the hydrogen adsorption region, and they reveal that methanol dissociative chemisor ption proceeds to a limited extent in this potential region at the cor rugated Pt(335) surface plane, where independent vibrational spectral features for CO at step and terrace sites were detected.